Aceytlene-gas burner.



No. 740,750. PATENTED v0cm. a, 1903,

W; T. FREE. I Y AGETYLENE GAS BURNER. I PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP 811224, 1903.

a i nuns ammo. wuamtrmm ofc- UNITED STATES Patented October 6, 19033WILLIAM THOMAS FREE, or cnA'rrANooeA, Tennessee.

ACETYLENE GAS BU RN ER.

srnorrrcarron forming part of Letters Patent No. 140,750, dated easier6, 1903.

Application filed Julie 24, 1903.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I,W1LLIAM Tnoims FREE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Ghattanooga, in the county of Hamilton and State ofTennessee, have invented a new and useful Acetylene-Gas Burner, of whichthe following is a specification. This invention relates to acetylene-gas burners. a In the consumption of acetylene gas for lightingpurposes great difficulty is found in preventing the accumulation ofcarbon atthe burner-tip and the choking of the ,gas-passage from thiscause. To effect thorough combustion, the quantity of atmospheric airadmixing with the gas must be in exact proportion to the quantity of gaspassing through the tip, and carbon will be liberated and deposited inthe form of soot if the quantity of air is too small or too large, alarge quantityv of air cooling the flame, while a small quantityresults" in imperfect combustion. For these reasons it is foundpractically impossible to employ an ordinaryform of burner for lightingpurposes,especi ally inhouse systems, where at times it becomesdesirable to lower the flame as a matter of economy. The ordinaryacetylene-gas burners are proportioned with a view of properly burning aconstant qu antity of gas, generally from so-called selfgeneratinglamps, where the gas is continuously manufactured so long as a quantityof water is admitted to the carbid or where quantities of carbid aregradually fed to a body of water. Devices of this class have no meansfor regulating the quantityof gas passing from the generator-tank to theburners, the regulating devices employed controlling only the supply ofcarbid or of water; but-in house systems the distribution of the gas iscarried on in a manner somewhat similar to the distribution of ordinarycoal or oil gas,

and with each burner is associated a valve or cock by which the quantityof gas passing to the burner maybe regulated or the supply wholly cutoff.

It is the principal object of the present invention to provide a burnerin which the quantity of air admixed with the gas will be in directproportion to the quantity of gas allowed to pass through the burner, sothat Serial No. 162 931. (1% man.)

thorough combustion is assured and the dcposit of carbon prevented.

W'ith this and other objects in view the iiivention consists in thenovel construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter describedillustrated in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed outin the appended claims, it being understood that various changes in theform, proportions, and minor details of structure may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit or sacrificing any of theadvantages of theinvention.

In the drawings, Figure l is a longitudinal sectional elevation I of aburner-tip constructed in accordzincewith the invention, the drawingsbeing made on an exaggerated scale. Fig. 2 is a sectional plan view ofthe burner on theline 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a similar view onthe'line 33 of Fig. 1. Figs. 4 and 5 are views corresponding to Fig. 1,illustrating modified constructions of burners also embodying theinvention. Fig. 6 is a side elevation, on a somewhat smaller scale, of aflat-flame burner embodying the invention. Fig. 7 is a plan View of thesame.

Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts throughoutthe several figures of the drawings.

The burner, or its tip, is formed of soapstone, lava, or otherrefractory material and is provided with a centrally-disposed gaspassage1, to which the gas is delivered from the supply-pipe.

In carrying out the invention the burnertip is provided with a chambergraduated in diameter, being largest at the outlet, and with thischamber communicate a number of graduated air-ports, so that thequantity of air admitted will be in direct proportion to the quantity ofgas passing through the pressure the larger the numberof air-ports whichthe jet will pass andthe greater the,

quantity of air mingled therewith to produce the burning mixture.

In the construction shown in Fig. 1 the upper end of the tip is boredout to form acombustion-chamber 3, which communicates with the outer airthrough large openings 4, extendentering through the radial passages 6,these ing through the side walls of the tip. These openings 4 are soproportioned with respect to the diameter of the passage 1 as to admit asufficient quantity of air to form a good burning mixture and supportcombustion when the full pressure of gas is turned on; but it is foundwhen the pressure is excessive that the actual point of combustion, orthe point at which the flame first becomes luminous, is at some littledistance beyond and above the tip of the burner, this point varying inaccordance with the pressure of the gas. The lower wall of thecombustion-chamber 3 is bored out to form a mixing-chamber 5, the bottomof which communicates with the gas-passage 1. This mixing -chamber 5 isof much smaller area than the combustion chamber 3 and is incommunication with the' outer air through correspondingly smallerpassages 6, leading through the side walls of the tip and permittingunder some circumstances the passage of air to the mixing-chamber inorder to properly support the combustion at about the bottom of saidcombustion-chamber.

The gas passing through the channel or passage 1 if under extremely highpressure will slightly expand whenit reaches the mixing-chamber 5 andwill further expand as it passes through the chamber 3, retaining ajetlike form, which will draw with it asufficient quantity of air toform a burning mixture and support combustion. The mixture of gas andair in part takes place within the chamber 5 and again in the chamber 3,air being admitted through the larger ports or openings 4 in the chamber3 to eifect the formation of ahighly-inflammable gas. Then the pressureis excessive,the mingled jet of air and gas will pass for some distanceabove and beyond the tip of the burner before the luminous portion ofthe flame is visible, and a portion of the air necessary to supportcombustion will be mixed with the gas above the top of the burner-tip.When the pressure is slightly checked, the supply of air furnished bythe ports or openings 4 will be employed to support combustion; butshould the flame be further reduced the quantity of air admitted to theopenings 4 will be in excess of that required to support combustion, andunder ordinary circumstances soot would immediately form and tend tochoke the tip.

For reasons of economy it is desirable in many cases to lessen theconsumption of gas by turning down the flame to as low a point aspossible without extinguishing it, as is done in many cases in theconsumption of ordinary coal-gas. This is found to be impossible in thecommercial forms of acetylene gas-burners, for the reason that thequantity of air is much in excess of the quantity of gas and results inan accumulation of soot and choking of the tip. In the present case thesmall quantity of gas entering the mixing-chamber 5 mingles withatmospheric air small passages being of suflicient size to admit justenough air to support combustion, while the flame may extend only inpart to the combustion-ch amber 3. Should the flame extend forany-considerable distance in'the chamber 3, the passages 4will serve toassist the passages 6 in supplying the necessary air; but it is found byactual practice and extensive tests extending over a long period of timethat it is practically impossible to deposit carbon in the form of sootat the tip, no matter what the quantity of gas consumed.

The walls of the combustion-chamber 3 serve as shields to prevent draftsof air from interfering with the smaller flame, so that it may notflicker or blow out, and this will prevent the entrance of free gas tothe room or compartment in which the burner is situated, and these wallsare of extensive area as compared with the area of the openings 4, sothat a positive shield is formed and the compartment 3 may serve as amixing-chamber when larger quantities of gas are passing through theburners.

It will be seen that the invention provides, in effect, a graduatedchamber or a plurality of chambers of successively-increasing size andprovided with successively-increasing ports or openings for theadmission of air, so that when the quantity of gas is small the smallerchamber will serve practically as an initial combustion-chamber, andwhen the quantity grows larger the smaller chamber will act merely as amixing-chamber, while combustion takes place either in whole or in partin the larger chamber, or, in other words, the jet issues from the mouthof gas-pipe 1. for a distance proportioned to the pressure and mingleswith air entering through a larger or smaller number of ports to form aburning mixture. Above the point of initial combustion the oxygen of theair attacks the burning mixture in the usual manner.

Should the quantity of gas be excessive, both smaller and largerchambers serve as mixing-chambers, and actual combustion or at least theluminous flame resulting from combustion takes place outside of andbeyond the burner-tip.

As the principal object of the invention is to properly proportion thequantity of air admixed with the gas in order to effect thorough andcomplete combustion, it is obvious that this mixing may be accomplishedby burners of slightly-different construction, and in Figs. 4 and 5 areshown burners embodying the same principle, but differing slightly inthe arrangement of the mixing andcombustion chambers. In Fig. 4 thereare shownthree successive chambers of successivelydncreasing diameterand area, or these may be regarded as a single chamber of diiferentdiameter at different points. .The smallest of these chambers 8 is nextto the gaspassage 1 and is provided with a plurality of smallairentrances 8, and these will suflice to support IIC combustion where avery small quantity of gas is allowed to flow from the passage. When ithe quantity of gas is increased, the chamber gether with the air, intothe upper chamber 3 and there receive a further quantity of air, so thatunder all circumstances the burning mixture will be formed ofproperly-proportioned bodies of air and gas.

A burner of more simple construction and embodying the same principle isillustrated in Fig. 5, wherein the chamber 9 is funnelshaped, beinglargest at the upper end of the tip, and communicating with this chamberat suitable intervals above the point of connection with the gas-pipeare a number of airinlet ports 10. These ports successively increase indiameter in proportion to the distance from the outlet end of thegas-passage and in proportion to the cross-sectional area of the chamberat the points where they connect with such chamber. It will be observedthat in this case also the passage of a small quantity of gas to theburner will result inthe admixture therewith of but a small quan tity'ofair, the air entering through the successive ports as the quantity ofgas increases,

' so that when a suitable burning mixture has been formed the gas may bewholly consumed and disintegration and the deposit of carbon prevented.The point of combustion or of initial luminosity will automaticallyadjust itself in accordance with the pressure of the gas, so that therewill be no danger of the gas passing upward to such an extent to mixwith a larger quantity of air than is necessary to efiect completecombusion. This invention might also be carried out in connection withburners of various forms; but in any case the burner must be so arrangedas to proportion the quantity of air to the quantity of gas to beconsumed.

In lieu of increasing the diameters of the ports as their distance fromthe inlet-point increases the ports may remain of the same size and alarger number be used.

The construction described may be applied either to a singlenipple-burner of the type shown in Fig. 1 or may be used for theflatflame burners, wherein two separate jets impinge to form a flat orbroadened luminous flame, this latter construction being shown in Figs.6 and 7. I v

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is 1. A burner-tiphaving an orifice graduated in diameter and provided with graduatedairinlets communicating therewith at different distances from theoutlet.

2. An acetylene-gas burnerhaving a chamber of successively increasingdiameter from its inlet to its outlet end, and air-inlet ports leadingthereinto at different points, said ports being constructed to admitsuccessively larger quantities of air as their distance from the inletend of the chamber increases.

3. An acetylenegas burner having a chamberof successively increasingdiameter from its inlet to its outlet end, and air-inlet ports leadingthereinto at different points, said ports being of successively largerdiameter as their distance from the inlet end of the chamber increases.

4. A burner-tip having atapering orifice of greatest diameter at theoutlet and provided with air-inlet ports arranged at different distancesfrom said outlet, the cross-sectional area of the ports beingproportioned to the cross-sectional area of the orifice at the points atwhich they connect with such orifice- In testimony that I claim theforegoing as my own I have hereto aflixed my signature in the presenceof two witnesses.

XVILLIAM THOMAS FREE. lVitnesses S. P. STOVER, C. M. Pnns'rnn.

